He attended St. Brigid parochial school in Westbury, and Chaminade High School, a private Catholic boys high school in Mineola. His father wanted him to attend Chaminade, but Bill wanted to attend W. Tresper Clarke High School, the public school most of his closest friends would attend.[20] Bill O'Reilly played Little League baseball and was the goalie on the Chaminade varsity hockey team.[21] During his high school years, O'Reilly met future pop-singer icon Billy Joel, whom O'Reilly described as a "hoodlum". O'Reilly recollected in an interview with Michael Kay on the YES Network show CenterStage that Joel "was in the Hicksville section—the same age as me—and he was a hood. He used to slick it [his hair] back like this. And we knew him, because his guys would smoke and this and that, and we were more jocks."[22]

In 1980 O'Reilly anchored the local news-feature program 7:30 Magazine at WCBS-TV in New York. Soon after, as a WCBS News anchor and correspondent, he won his second local Emmy, for an investigation of corrupt city marshals. In 1982 he was promoted to the network as a CBS News correspondent.

For CBS, O'Reilly covered the wars in El Salvador on location, and in the Falkland Islands from his base in Buenos Aires, Argentina. O'Reilly left CBS over a dispute concerning the uncredited use in a report by Bob Schieffer of footage of a riot in response to the military junta's surrender, shot by O'Reilly's crew in Buenos Aires shortly after the conclusion of the war.[33][34]

In 1986, O'Reilly joined ABC News as a correspondent. He had delivered a eulogy for his friend Joe Spencer, an ABC News correspondent who died in a helicopter crash on January 22, 1986, en route to covering the Hormel meatpacker strike. ABC News president Roone Arledge, who attended Spencer's funeral, decided to hire O'Reilly after hearing the eulogy.[35] At ABC, O'Reilly hosted daytime news briefs that previewed stories to be reported on the day's World News Tonight and worked as a general assignment reporter for ABC News programs, including Good Morning America, Nightline, and World News Tonight.[36]

Former NBC News and CBS News anchor Deborah Norville replaced O'Reilly on Inside Edition in 1995; O'Reilly had expressed a desire to quit the show in July 1994.[38] He then enrolled in September 1995 at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University,[39] where he received a master's degree in public administration.[26] His graduate thesis, which he researched in Singapore, was titled Theory of Coerced Drug Rehabilitation. In his thesis, O'Reilly asserted that supervised mandatory drug rehabilitation would reduce crime, based on the rate of prison return for criminals in Alabama who enrolled in such a program.[40]

The O'Reilly Factor

After Harvard, he was hired by Roger Ailes, chairman and CEO of the then startup Fox News Channel, to anchor The O'Reilly Report in October 1996.[41] The show was renamed The O'Reilly Factor, after O'Reilly's friend and branding expert John Tantillo's remarks upon the "O'Reilly Factor" in any of the stories O'Reilly told.[41][42][43] The program is routinely the highest-rated show of the three major U.S. 24-hourcable news television channels and began the trend toward more opinion-oriented prime-time cable news programming.[44] The show is taped late in the afternoon at a studio in New York City and airs every weekday on the Fox News Channel at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time and is rebroadcast at 11:00 p.m.

Until early 2009, O'Reilly hosted a radio program that had more than 3.26 million listeners and was carried by more than 400 radio stations.[45] According to the talk radio industry publication Talkers Magazine, O'Reilly was No. 11 on the "Heavy Hundred", a list of the 100 most important talk show hosts in America.[46] Conservative Internet news site NewsMax's "Top 25 Talk Radio Host" list selected O'Reilly to the No. 2 spot as most influential host in the nation.[47]

O'Reilly's life and career have not been without controversy. Progressive media watchdog organizations such as Media Matters and Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting have criticized O'Reilly's reporting on a variety of issues, accusing him of distorting facts and using misleading or erroneous statistics.[48] In 2008, citing numerous inaccuracies in his reporting, MediaMatters for America awarded O'Reilly its first annual "Misinformer of the Year" award.[49]

After the September 11 attacks, O'Reilly accused the United Way of America and American Red Cross of failing to deliver millions of dollars in donated money, raised by the organizations in the name of the disaster, to the families of those killed in the attacks.[50] O'Reilly reported that the organizations misrepresented their intentions for the money being raised by not distributing all of the 9/11 relief fund to the victims. Actor George Clooney responded, accusing O'Reilly of misstating facts and harming the relief effort by inciting "panic" among potential donors.[51]

Beginning in 2005, O'Reilly periodically denounced George Tiller, a Kansas-based physician who specialized in second- and third-trimester abortions,[52] often referring to him as "Tiller the baby killer".[53] Tiller was murdered on May 31, 2009, by Scott Roeder, an anti-abortion activist.[54] Critics such as Salon.com's Gabriel Winant have asserted that O'Reilly's anti-Tiller rhetoric helped to create an atmosphere of violence around the doctor.[55] Jay Bookman of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote that O'Reilly "clearly went overboard in his condemnation and demonization of Tiller", but added that it was "irresponsible to link O'Reilly" to Tiller's murder.[56] O'Reilly has responded to the criticism by saying "no backpedaling here ... every single thing we said about Tiller was true."[57]

In early 2007, researchers from the Indiana University School of Journalism published a report that analyzed O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" segment. Using analysis techniques developed in the 1930s by the Institute for Propaganda Analysis, the study concluded that O'Reilly used propaganda, frequently engaged in name calling, and consistently cast non-Americans as threats and never "in the role of victim or hero."[58][59] O'Reilly responded, asserting that "the terms 'conservative', 'liberal', 'left', 'right', 'progressive', 'traditional' and 'centrist' were considered name-calling if they were associated with a problem or social ill." The study's authors said that those terms were only considered name-calling when linked to derogatory qualifiers.[60] Fox News producer Ron Mitchell wrote an op-ed in which he accused the study's authors of seeking to manipulate their research to fit a predetermined outcome. Mitchell argued that by using tools developed for examining propaganda, the researchers presupposed that O'Reilly propagandized.[61]

Speaking on ABC's Good Morning America on March 18, 2003, O'Reilly promised that "[i]f the Americans go in and overthrow Saddam Hussein and it's clean [of weapons of mass destruction] ... I will apologize to the nation, and I will not trust the Bush administration again."[64] In another appearance on the same program on February 10, 2004, O'Reilly responded to repeated requests for him to honor his pledge: "My analysis was wrong and I'm sorry. I was wrong. I'm not pleased about it at all."[65] With regard to never again trusting the current U.S. government, he said, "I am much more skeptical of the Bush administration now than I was at that time."

Disputed claims

George de Mohrenschildt claim

In his bestselling 2013 book Killing Kennedy and on Fox and Friends, O'Reilly claimed he was knocking at the front door of George de Mohrenschildt's daughter's home at the moment Mohrenschildt committed suicide and that he heard the shotgun blast:

In March of 1977, a young television reporter at WFAA in Dallas began looking into the Kennedy assassination. As part of his reporting, he sought an interview with the shadowy Russian professor who had befriended the Oswalds upon their arrival in Dallas in 1962. The reporter traced George de Mohrenschildt to Palm Beach, Florida and travelled there to confront him. At the time de Mohrenschildt had been called to testify before a congressional committee looking into the events of November, 1963. As the reporter knocked on the door of de Mohrenschildt’s daughter’s home, he heard the shotgun blast [Emphasis added] that marked the suicide of the Russian, assuring that his relationship with Lee Harvey Oswald would never be fully understood. By the way, that reporter’s name is Bill O’Reilly.

This claim has been disputed by former Washington Post editor Jefferson Morley, who cites audio recordings made by Gaeton Fonzi indicating O'Reilly was not present in Florida on the day of Mohrenschildt's suicide.[67][68]

War coverage claims

On February 19, 2015, David Corn from Mother Jones broke a story reporting a collection of inconsistencies of O'Reilly when recalling his experience covering the 1982 Falklands War.[34] On April 17, 2013, O'Reilly said on his show "I was in a situation one time, in a war zone in Argentina, in the Falklands, (...)".[69] In his book The No Spin Zone, he wrote "You know that I am not easily shocked. I've reported on the ground in active war zones from El Salvador to the Falklands."[70] On a 2004 column on his website he wrote: "Having survived a combat situation in Argentina during the Falklands war, I know that life-and-death decisions are made in a flash."[71] Corn claimed O'Reilly was not in the Falklands, but in Buenos Aires and that no American journalist was in the Islands during the conflict. Also he pointed out that according to O'Reilly's own book The No Spin Zone, he arrived in Buenos Aires soon before the war ended.[34] On February 20, 2015, O'Reilly said on his show "David Corn, a liar, says that I exaggerated situations in the Falklands War" and that he never said he was on the Falkland Islands. O'Reilly went on to describe his experience in a riot in Buenos Aires the day Argentina surrendered.[72] David Corn replied that they didn't claim O'Reilly "exaggerated" but rather that there were contradictions between his accounts and the factual record, and that the 2013 clip from his show proves O'Reilly did in fact say he was on the Falklands.[73] David Corn told The New York Times “The question is whether Bill O’Reilly was stating the truth when he repeatedly said that Argentine soldiers used real bullets and fired into the crowd of civilians and many were killed.”[74]

In March 2015 Ignacio Medrano-Carbo stated that he was the camerman O'Reilly referred to and that at no time was he knocked down or bleeding from the ear. Sound man Roberto Moreno corroborates this fact. Medrano also stated "I do not even recall Mr. O'Reilly being near me when I shot all that footage nor after I left the unrest at Plaza de Mayo that evening."[75][76]

On September 2009, during an interview he said he covered the riots in Buenos Aires on the day Argentina surrendered.[77]

During an interview with The Blaze, O'Reilly said "And if that moron [Corn] doesn’t think it was a war zone in Buenos Aires, then he’s even dumber than I think he is."[78] This characterization by O'Reilly was disputed by former CBS colleague Eric Engberg who was in Buenos Aires at the time and challenged his (O'Reilly) description of the riot as a "combat situation". Engberg went on to say it was a moderate riot and he heard no “shots fired” and saw no “ambulances or tanks” in the streets.[79] The following week O’Reilly contradicted Engberg’s claims presenting archived CBS video of the riot that ensued after Argentine’s surrender. The video appears to show riot police firing tear gas and plastic bullets toward the crowd, additionally former NBC bureau chief Don Browne referred to the riot as an “intense situation”, with many people hurt and tanks in the streets of Buenos Aires.[80]

The fallout from the coverage generated by the questioning of O'Reilly's Falklands War coverage saw claims made by O'Reilly regarding his reporting in El Salvador and Northern Ireland questioned. Writing in his 2013 book Keep it Pithy, O'Reilly stated: "I've seen soldiers gun down unarmed civilians in Latin America, Irish terrorists kill and maim their fellow citizens in Belfast with bombs." In 2005 O'Reilly claimed to have "seen guys gun down nuns in El Salvador" and in 2012 said "I saw nuns get shot in the back of the head". O'Reilly and Fox News clarified that he had been shown images of the murdered nuns and Irish bombings but was not an eyewitness in either case.[81][82]

Political views and public perception

On The O'Reilly Factor and on his former talk-radio program, Bill O'Reilly has focused on news and commentary related to politics and culture.[88] O'Reilly has long said that he does not identify with any political ideology, writing in his book The O'Reilly Factor that the reader "might be wondering whether I'm conservative, liberal, libertarian, or exactly what ... See, I don't want to fit any of those labels, because I believe that the truth doesn't have labels. When I see corruption, I try to expose it. When I see exploitation, I try to fight it. That's my political position."[89] On December 6, 2000, the Daily News in New York reported, however, that he had been registered with the Republican Party in the state of New York since 1994. When questioned about this, he said that he was not aware of it and says he registered as an independent after the interview.[90] During a broadcast of The Radio Factor, O'Reilly said that there was no option to register as an independent voter; however, there was in fact a box marked "I do not wish to enroll in party."[91] Despite his being registered as an Independence Party member, many view him as a conservative figure.[88] A February 2009 Pew Research poll found that 66% of his television viewers identify themselves as conservative, 24% moderate, and 3% liberal.[92] A November 2008 poll by Zogby International found that O'Reilly was the second most trusted news personality, after Rush Limbaugh.[93]

I'm not a political guy in the sense that I embrace an ideology. To this day I'm an independent thinker, an independent voter, I'm a registered independent ... [T]here are certain fundamental things that this country was founded upon that I respect and don't want changed. That separates me from the secularists who want a complete overhaul of how the country is run.[12]

On a September 2007 edition of The Radio Factor, while having a discussion about race with fellow Fox News commentator and author Juan Williams about a meal he shared with Al Sharpton, O'Reilly said "You know when Sharpton and I walked in, it was like... big commotion and everything. But everybody was very nice. And I couldn't get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia's restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it's run by blacks, primarily black patronship." He commented that no one in Sylvia's was "screaming 'M'Fer, I want more iced tea.'" He further added, "I think that black Americans are starting to think more and more for themselves, getting away from the Sharptons and the Jacksons and people trying to lead them into a race-based culture. They're just trying to figure it out. 'Look, I can make it. If I work hard and get educated, I can make it.'"[94] The statement drew criticism from a number of places. Roland S. Martin of CNN said that the notion that black people are just now starting to value education is "ridiculous" and that the notion that black people let Sharpton or Jackson think for them is "nuts".[95]Media Matters for America covered the story on a number of occasions.[96][97] O'Reilly responded, saying, "It was an attempt to tell the radio audience that there is no difference—black, white, we're all Americans. The stereotypes they see on television are not true" and also called out Media Matters, claiming that "Media Matters distorted the entire conversation and implied I was racist for condemning racism."[98] Juan Williams said the criticism of O'Reilly was "rank dishonesty" and that the original comments "had nothing to do with racist ranting by anybody except by these idiots at CNN." Williams went on to say it was "frustrating" that the media try to criticize anyone who wanted to have an honest discussion about race.[99]

O'Reilly has long said that his inspiration for speaking up for average Americans is his working-class roots. He has pointed to his boyhood home in Levittown, New York, as a credential. In an interview with The Washington Post, O'Reilly's mother said that her family lived in Westbury,[100] which is a few miles from Levittown. Citing this interview, then liberal talk-show pundit Al Franken accused O'Reilly of distorting his background to create a more working-class image. O'Reilly countered that The Washington Post misquoted his mother[101] and that his mother still lives in his childhood home, which was built by William Levitt. O'Reilly placed a copy of the house's mortgage on his website; the mortgage shows a Levittown postal address.[102] O'Reilly has also said, "You don't come from any lower than I came from on an economic scale"[103] and that his father, a currency accountant for an oil company,[104] "never earned more than $35,000 a year in his life." O'Reilly responded that his father's $35,000 income only came at the end of his long career.[105]

Personal life

O'Reilly was married to Maureen E. McPhilmy, a public relations executive. They met in 1992, and their wedding took place in St. Brigid Parish of Westbury on November 2, 1996.[106] They have a daughter, Madeline (born 1998), and a son, Spencer (born 2003).[107]

Sexual harassment lawsuits

On October 13, 2004, O'Reilly sued Andrea Mackris, a former producer for The O'Reilly Factor, with extortion charges, alleging that she had threatened a lawsuit unless he paid her more than $60 million. Subsequently, that day, Mackris sued O'Reilly for sexual harassment, seeking $60 million in damages. Her lawsuit alleged two types of legally-cognizable sexual harassment claims that are not based upon physical contact: quid pro quo and hostile work environment. In her lawsuit, she filed a 22-page complaint with the Supreme Court of the State of New York,[111] including quotations from alleged explicit phone conversations between herself and O'Reilly in which he "advised her to use a vibrator and told her about sexual fantasies involving her",[112] and an allegation that he threatened that if she reported his behavior, "Roger Ailes...will go after you...Ailes operates behind the scenes, strategizes, and makes things happen so that one day BAM! The person gets what's coming to them but never sees it coming." On October 15, 2004, Fox sought judicial permission to fire Mackris, but she was never dismissed. On October 19, 2004, Mackris filed an amended complaint seeking further damages for illegal retaliatory actions by O'Reilly, Fox News, and the News Corporation-owned newspaper the New York Post.[113] On October 28, 2004, O'Reilly and Mackris reached an out-of-court settlement and dropped all charges against each other. The terms of the agreement are confidential.[114]

After Ailes was the subject of a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by former Fox News coworker Gretchen Carlson, O'Reilly said in July 2016 that Ailes was a "target" as a "famous, powerful or wealthy person" and called him the "best boss I ever had."[115] After Ailes was fired and the network settled the lawsuit with Carlson, O'Reilly declined to comment further, saying that " for once in my life, I’m going to keep my big mouth shut."[116]

In August 2016, former Fox host Andrea Tantaros filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Fox News, claiming that O'Reilly made sexually suggestive comments to her.[117]

Domestic violence accusation from daughter

In May 2015, court transcripts from O’Reilly's custody trial with ex-wife Maureen McPhilmy revealed signs of domestic violence within the household—O’Reilly's daughter testified to a forensic examiner that she witnessed O’Reilly choking McPhilmy and dragging her down the stairs of their home by her neck, apparently unaware that the daughter was watching.[118][119][120] In light of the allegation, O’Reilly issued a statement through his attorney describing the account as "100% false" and declined to comment further in order “to respect the court-mandated confidentiality put in place to protect [his] children”.[120][121] In February 2016, O'Reilly lost a bid for custody of both of his children.[122]

Public disputes

Ludacris

On August 27, 2002, O'Reilly called for all Americans to boycott Pepsi products,[123] saying that Ludacris' lyrics glamorize a "life of guns, violence, drugs and disrespect of women."[124] The next day, O'Reilly reported that Pepsi had fired Ludacris.[123]

Three years later, Ludacris referenced O'Reilly in the song "Number One Spot" with the lyrics "Respected highly, hi, Mr. O'Reilly/Hope all is well, kiss the plaintiff and the wifey.", which alludes to his well publicized sexual harassment suit while married. In an interview with RadarOnline.com in 2010, Ludacris stated that the two had made amends after a conversation at a charity event.[125]

Joy Behar/Whoopi Goldberg

On October 14, 2010, Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg walked off the set of The View after they both disagreed with statements made by O'Reilly, specifically O'Reilly's statement "Muslims killed us on 9/11."[126] Goldberg stated O'Reilly should be more specific than just labeling Muslims. O'Reilly defended his statement citing the lack of specificity when describing attacks by Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in World War II. O'Reilly later explained on his show that the statement was valid when he said "Of course, what I said is absolutely true, but is insensitive to some. In a perfect world you always say Muslim terrorists killed us, but at this point I thought that was common knowledge. I guess I was wrong."[127]Barbara Walters disagreed with O'Reilly's defense of the World War II comparison stating that describing a religion is not the same as describing a country. Walters would go on to say, "We should be able to have discussion without ... walking off stage."[128] Former host and progressive commentator Rosie O'Donnell stated on her radio program that the incident was an example of what she viewed as regular hateful statements. O'Reilly responded by citing O'Donnell's earlier statement about claiming the threat from radical Christianity is similar to that of radical Islam.

Anti-Defamation League

On December 8, 2004, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) sent O'Reilly a letter criticizing him for making remarks offensive towards Jews on his radio talk show The Radio Factor.[129] The group found issue with his response to the call of a Jewish listener named "Joel", who complained of Christian proselytizing through the celebration of Christmas in public schools, which included O'Reilly stating that:

Overwhelmingly, America is Christian. And the holiday is a federal holiday honoring the philosopher Jesus. So you don't wanna hear about it? Impossible … if you are really offended you gotta go to Israel, then.[130]

The ADL responded in their 2004 letter, stating that:

American Jews are Americans. Jews and other religious minorities are part of America's great tradition of religious freedom. The discomfort with proselytizing, or the intrusion of Christian teachings in public schools, is a very legitimate concern.

Books by O'Reilly

O'Reilly, Bill (2000). The O'Reilly Factor: The Good, the Bad, and the Completely Ridiculous in American Life. Broadway Books. ISBN0-7679-0528-8. (Reached No. 1 on the New York Times' Non-Fiction Best Seller list.)[131]

O'Reilly, Bill (2001). The No Spin Zone. Broadway Books. ISBN0-7679-0848-1. (Reached No. 1 on the New York Times' Non-Fiction Best Seller list.)[131]

O'Reilly, Bill (2003). Who's Looking Out For You?. Broadway Books. ISBN0-7679-1379-5. (Reached No. 1 on the New York Times' Non-Fiction Best Seller list.)[131]

O'Reilly, Bill (2006). Culture Warrior. Broadway Books. ISBN0-7679-2092-9. (Reached No. 1 on the New York Times' Non-Fiction Best Seller list;[131] Achieved more than one million copies in print in its first three months)

^Lemma, Ingrid (September 26, 2009). "VVH-TV's "American Dreams Show"" (Interview). O'REILLY: I was down in El Salvador in the 80s, then I went over to the Falklands Island War. Covered from Buenos Aires and Montevideo. Then I went to Israel and covered that. And then I went to Northern Island and covered that. So I've seen the best and the worst and I know the worst. LEMMA: At times dangerous situations. O'REILLY: Yes, it was dangerous. I almost got killed a couple of times. LEMMA: Is there one situation in particular.. O'REILLY: When the Argentines surrendered to the British, there were riots in the streets of Buenos Aires. I wrote about this in my novel Those who Trespass. And I was out there, pretty much by myself because the other CBS News Correspondents were hiding in the Hotel. And I said "why you guys.. you gotta get out and cover the story"..which I did. But, when the riots broke out, in the Casa Rosada, that's where the presidential palace is, people were kind of storming the presidential palace because they were so angry that they have lost face, that they have lost to the British. So there must have been 5,000 or 6,000 people. And the army was standing between the people and the presidential palace. Here in United States we would do tear gas and rubber bullets. They were doing real bullets. They were just gunning these people down. Shoot them down on the streets. LEMMA: So you could have gotten killed. O'REILLY: I was there watching this from about 15 feet away from where the army was shooting. And you got to understand it. When you are in El Salvador, or Argentina or even Northern Island you are on your own. There is no Americans. So when I went to Afghanistan and Iraq, with The Factor, we had guys. We had American guys with us, wherever we were. We were in some dangerous places but we had American soldiers around us. When I was down there, you are by yourself. Nobody is gonna help you. So anyway, when the riots broke out, my shooter, my photographer, got run over by the crowd. Got trampled by the crowd and the camera went flying. I saved the tape, because it was unbelievable tape. But I dragged him off the street. Because he was bleeding from the ear and had hit his head on the concrete. So I dragged him off the street with one hand, and I got the tape with the other hand. The soundman is trying to save the camera, because CBS would not gonna be happy to loose a camera, they are expensive. And then the army comes running down and the guy points the M-16 at our.. And I'm going "Periodista, no dispare" which means "Journalist, don't shoot". I said "Por favor", "Please, don't shoot". I wasn't begging, you beg and you are in trouble.(...)